AKRON, Ohio — A Summit County jury has found Stanley Ford guilty of nine arson deaths between 2016 and 2017.
Stanley Ford, 62, was found guilty of more murders than anyone in Summit County history.
Jurors found Ford guilty of 26 of the 29 charges against him, including 22 counts of aggravated murder, as well as aggravated arson and attempted aggravated murder relating to a man who escaped from the first fatal fire.
Ford was found not guilty of prohibitions against companion animals, a charge related to a dog that died in the second fatal fire.
The jury also acquitted him of arson and aggravated menacing in a vehicle fire that happened in January 2017 in which no one was injured and an alleged confrontation with a neighbor prior to the vehicle fire.
Ford is now facing the death penalty. The sentencing phase of his trial begins on Monday morning.
Throughout the case, he has maintained his innocence.
In April of 2016, Lindell Lewis, 65, and his girlfriend, Gloria Jean Hart, 66, were killed in a fire at their home in the 700 block of Fultz Street in Akron.
In January of 2017, an SUV parked in the driveway of a home on Akron's Russell Avenue was set on fire. No one was injured.
In May of 2017, seven people were killed in a house fire in the 600 block of Fultz Street. The victims were identified at Dennis Huggins, 35, Angela Boggs, 38, and their five children, Cameron Huggins, 1, Alivia Huggins, 3, Kyle Huggins, 5, Daisia Huggins, 6, and Jared Boggs, who was 14.
In June 2020, a judge declared a mistrial after too many jurors had valid excuses and were afraid of COVID-19. The trial was previously put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.
RELATED: Second murder trial begins for Stanley Ford, accused of arson fires that killed 9
